Obama economy rips doors off 'world's largest store'

More than 11,000 retail outlets shuttered across U.S. since start of 2015

Only two months ago, WND reported Macy's stock had plunged precipitously after it summarily dropped its business connections to now-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump when he announced his bid for the White House.

The economy, in fact, has been horrible under Obama. A report just this week in the Weekly Standard said: "In truth, the economy under President Barack Obama has been historically bad. How bad? Adjusted for inflation, average yearly GDP growth under President Obama has been less than half of what it was under President Jimmy Carter, 1.5 percent to 3.3 percent."

The next-worst results came under President Truman after World War II, at 1.7 percent, Both Presidents Bush were in the 2-plus percent range, and President Reagan was at 3.5 percent.

Continued the report: "Obama's last-place tally of 1.5 percent doesn't even include the … numbers for 2016, since the year isn't yet complete. Thus far, growth in 2016 has been 0.8 percent in the first quarter and an estimated 1.2 percent in the second quarter. So Obama will be lucky to finish his presidency at even half the postwar average of 2.9 percent growth."

CNN reported the announcement comes as the company is reporting a sixth-straight quarterly decline in sales.

At the Retail Industry website, a report titled "2015 Store Closing Roundup," which was updated as recently as this week, listed store closures by dozens of companies totaling about 10,260.

The list did not include Sports Authority's 450 or Walmart's 269, however.

Macy's 100 stores pushes the total above the 11,000 mark. It's likely higher, as the compiled reports don't include mom-and-pop operations that have been unable to sustain themselves in the lackluster Obama economy.

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"We operate in a fast-changing world, and our company is moving forward decisively to build further on Macy's heritage," CEO Terry Lundgren said in a statement.

But the company said the closures could deliver a loss of $1 billion in sales.

Karen Hoguet, Macy's chief financial officer, told CNN the blame should be put on the stores that are "underperformers."

The move is just the latest shutdown announced during Obama's presidency. In addition to the Walmart, Sports Authority and others, Target, JC Penny, Kmart, Sears and Kohl's all have announced the shuttering of hundreds of their locations over the last year.

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"It's a grim picture for retail store workers – there have been around 44,000 retail layoffs announced so far this year alone, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas data. Walmart's closures alone impacted 16,000 workers," CNN reported.

When Trump first called for the boycott on July 1, 2015, Macy's stock price stood at $67.82 per share. In less than a year, the stock lost more than half its value and was as low as $31. It had bounced only slightly before the current announcement, made with a stock price at about $39.

The Retail Industry report noted Radio Shack's Chapter 11 bankruptcy took 1,784 stores out of malls, strip malls and other locations.

At that time, entire malls were being closed, and since then, even though the U.S. government has collected not quite $3 trillion in taxes a year since Obama was elected, he's overseen the expenditures of almost $4 trillion a year.

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A few weeks back, Michael Snyder, a University of Florida law-school graduate, former Washington, D.C., attorney and publisher of the Economic Collapse Blog, wrote on The End of the American Dream blog: "Major retailers in the United States are shutting down hundreds of stores, and shoppers are reporting alarmingly bare shelves in many retail locations that are still open all over the country."

He warned the 2015 retail lag was only worsening in 2016.

"In impoverished urban centers all over the nation, it is not uncommon to find entire malls that have now been completely abandoned," he said. "It has been estimated that there is about a billion square feet of retail space sitting empty in this country, and this crisis is only going to get worse as the retail apocalypse accelerates."

Bob Unruh joined WND in 2006 after nearly three decades with the Associated Press, as well as several Upper Midwest newspapers, where he covered everything from legislative battles and sports to tornadoes and homicidal survivalists. He is also a photographer whose scenic work has been used commercially.